Factors Influencing the Choice of a Marketing Automation Platform, Part 1

Do You Know Where Your Organization Is Headed?

Before choosing a marketing automation tool, you first need to have a solid understanding of your business. Why? What does this have to do with automation? By understanding the nature of your business, it becomes easier to determine the company’s goals.

For example, are you a small niche store trying to build a loyal customer base? Or are you a large e-commerce site looking to promote your brand, expand your product range, and increase sales? Are you focused only on acquiring new customers, or are you aiming to foster long-term relationships?

Once you answer these types of business questions, you can determine which marketing automation tool will help you achieve these goals.

Of course, this assumes you’ve done your research on the tools that caught your eye. Just visit each platform’s website, and you’ll see all its functionalities listed. Assign the strengths and weaknesses for each tool.

Cross-check your goals with the list of strengths and weaknesses of the platform. If a product won’t help you achieve your business goals, remove it from the list. Repeat this process until you’re left with the most suitable marketing automation tools.

Once you’ve done this, you can start the elimination process again, considering the four remaining elements.

Tell Us What Kind of Store You Have, and We’ll Tell You What It Integrates With!

E-commerce Platforms in Poland and What They Integrate With

Marketing automation systems closely work with e-commerce systems, exchanging data that, for example, trigger marketing scenarios or collect information about visited products.

In Poland, the three most popular e-commerce platforms are PrestaShop, WooCommerce Checkout, and Shoper. Together, they account for 57% of the market (July 2021).

Below, we present the four most popular marketing automation systems for e-commerce. You can easily compare the platforms in terms of functionality, pros and cons, pricing, and the type of store each platform is suitable for.

Salesmanago – https://www.salesmanago.pl/

Pros: A wide range of tool configurations – allowing customization for most situations in e-commerce.

Cons: A wide range of tool configurations – it requires significant time to learn and fully utilize its potential.

Price: From 2500 PLN / month – 12-month contract

For whom: Medium and large online stores that have an IT department, a marketing department, and an in-house marketing automation specialist.

Edrone – https://edrone.me/pl/

Pros: A platform designed exclusively for e-commerce. Many ready-made marketing automation scenarios (e.g., abandoned cart recovery, loyalty programs, cross-selling) along with templates ready to launch.

Cons: Limited flexibility in pre-made scenarios. Difficult popup and web layer editing.

Price: From 833 PLN / month – 12-month contract

For whom: Stores without large human resources to implement advanced campaigns but wanting to use advanced, template-based solutions.

iPresso – https://www.ipresso.pl/

Pros: A comprehensive tool for stores, easy to use, directly integrates with the PrestaShop platform.

Cons: Fewest integrations with e-commerce stores.

Price: From 289 PLN / month – 12-month contract

For whom: A solution for small and starting e-commerce businesses, mainly using PrestaShop as their e-commerce platform.

Klaviyo – https://www.klaviyo.com/

Pros: Easy to use, predefined scenarios speed up campaign creation while allowing full customization. Ideal system combined with Shopify. Extensive analytics.

Cons: Support in English (scenarios, forms can be in Polish), extensive features that require a lot of time to learn and fully utilize.

Price: From $0 / month – the price varies depending on the number of contacts in the database.
Minimum fee for more than 250 contacts – $20 per month.

For whom: Stores using Shopify or operating mainly in English-speaking markets.

Summary

• The process of choosing, implementing, and managing marketing automation is complex. Many factors must be considered that will affect the final shape of the project in your company, and consequently, its effectiveness.
• If you’ve already completed the first two steps – great! In the next part, you’ll learn about three more, related to integration, operation, and the resources needed.
• If you have any doubts or questions about the two steps discussed today, contact us. We’ll be happy to answer your questions.
  
  
• Check out the next part of this series, Factors Influencing the Choice of a Marketing Automation Platform, Part 2.